In The Arms Of An Angel
by Kiva Johns Adkins
Summary: *Contribution for Fandom4Austism* Once the most desired girl in her human world, Rosalie Hale now found herself alone, no hope of finding her true love when a hunting trip changed everything.


_Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all recognizable Twilight characters._

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><p>AN: This is my O/S submitted for Fandom4Autism. It is the story of Rosalie and Emmett and how Emmett became a Cullen. I hope you enjoy it. The first of next month I will be able to release my O/S for the floods in Australia, called That Boy. It is the story of Bella and Edward if they met in 1918. And now I am working on a O/S for Fandom for Tsunamis. It will be Alice's story and I am quite excited about that. Currently a group is working on getting a group together to write for the storms in the south. Since I am a southern girl it is only right for me to submit to that one as well. That story will, in one way or another, involve Esme.

Thank you all so much for reading my O/S's and my fics and supporting me in the journey to tell Edward's Point of View on the Saga. I promise great stuff is coming.

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><p><strong>In the Arms of an Angel<strong>

**Rated: T for teen**

**By: Kiva Johns-Adkins**

**Rosalie/Emmett**

**Canon**

I could see the lights of our Asheville home through the trees and I knew I…we…were steps away from salvation. Carlisle could save him. He would save him.

_Please, help. Edward, I need help._

My adopted brother could read minds and I knew I was close enough for him to hear my pleas when the back door flew open just as I reached the porch, carrying Emmett over my shoulder. Blood was soaking my clothes and running down the front and back of me from his wounds but I had no desire to feed on him. I had never tasted human blood and I wasn't about to change that.

"Rosalie?" Edward asked, scrunching his eyebrows together as he reached out to carry Emmett into the house.

I followed Edward through the kitchen door and collapsed in the floor as soon as I shut it behind me.

"Rosalie, dear," Esme said, kneeling next to me, brushing my hair with her hand. "What happened? Are you okay?"

Esme was such a kind woman and I had been lucky to have her as a mother figure in this life. She almost made up for having to live with Edward as my brother.

I shuddered and held my face in my hands, trying to compos myself. I just ran a hundred miles from the Smokey Mountains near Gatlinburg, Tennessee, with a bear of a man slung over my shoulder; careful not to be seen by anyone.

Carlisle smelled the blood and came running in to the kitchen where Edward had laid Emmett on the kitchen table.

"Oh my," he said, holding his hand over his mouth. "What happened? What is needed?"

Esme offered me her hand and helped me stand up. I walked slowly towards the table, towards Emmett. I finally had the chance to look at his bloody, battered body and wondered if I had done the right thing by bringing him to Carlisle. Could he actually fix him?

"I was hunting and I noticed him near a campsite a few hundred yards away," I started. "He caught my attention. He reminded me of…someone. I knew it wasn't who I thought it was but I couldn't take my eyes off of him. He must have been near a mother bear's den because a black bear rushed him from the trees and attacked him. He didn't have a gun or knife. He had nothing to fight back with."

He reminded me of my best friend Vera's little boy, with the dark curls and bright green eyes. It reminded me of my human life, the human life that was stolen from me. I would give anything, anything to have my human life back and I felt like Emmett was a gift from the heavens, rewarding me for never drinking human blood and making up for all that was taken from me.

_Don't you dare judge me, Edward. You have no idea how I feel._

Carlisle ran his hands over Emmett's head, feeling the wounds to his face before he turned to look at me, hopelessly.

"Rosalie, his injuries are far too severe," he said. "I cannot save him. I'm sorry."

He looked at me, searching my face for answers. All three of them looked at me. I wasn't sure what the answer was but there was no time to think about it.

I jumped to my feet and moved to Emmett's side, holding his hand in mine. "If you can't save him, then save me," I begged Carlisle, who looked at me in confusion. "I cannot exist forever by myself. I need a companion. I need a mate. I was there when he was attacked for a reason. He was meant for me."

_You can't blame me, Edward. You never loved me that way. You never wanted me that way and I cannot be alone. Maybe you are okay with that, but I am not._

Carlisle looked at me, his mouth agape, then back at Emmett. He was always remiss when it came to creating new vampires to live this life of ours, especially since me. I told him he should have let me die, that it would have been a better option.

"This is something you want?" Carlisle asked me.

"Yes," I smiled. "I do."

"You are committing yourself to this man? You will not leave him, especially as a newborn to our world?"

"I promise," I assured him. "I will be his mate for life."

"What if he doesn't like you?" Edward mumbled.

"Edward!" Esme chided him, smacking his hand. "There is absolutely no reason to believe he would do anything other than love her."

"Besides, it gets you off the hook," I reminded him.

"I don't like this, Rosalie," Carlisle grumbled.

"I know," I said sympathetically, placing my hand on his. "But there is no other way. Without you, he would surely die. I never go hunting in that direction. There is a reason I went that way and no reason I found him. Please, for me, change him and give him a second life."

"Rosalie, you go with Esme and make the guest room comfortable for Emmett," Carlisle directed. "Edward, you stay with me. Everyone needs to remember the first three days will be the most difficult and we all need to be diligent in helping me get through it as easily as possible."

Esme reached under the kitchen sink and took our basket of cleaning products and rags out. "Come, Rosalie," she smiled, "We will make the room very comfortable for him when he comes to."

I took Esme's hand as she led me through the swinging door from the kitchen to the living room and looked over my shoulder to see Edward offer me a reassuring look.

"So, Rosalie," Esme prodded me as we stripped the bed of its sheets and blankets, tossing them in a pile near the door. "Tell me more about this Emmett. What drew you to him?"

She waved the sheets in the air and I caught my edge, helping her pull the fresh corners together on the mattress.

"I was just hunting," I began. "For some reason, I went a little further north than I would alone. I was near Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I could smell bears in the area and knew they were, most likely, already in hibernation, but I was feeling lucky. I waited near an outcropping of rocks down a hollow and I saw him."

"Tell me more," she encouraged, tossing me two pillow cases. "I want to hear everything."

I could hear Emmett screaming in the kitchen. Luckily for us, the house was far enough down a country road that we had no real neighbors and no one was likely to hear his screams. Hearing him suffer was killing me, but I knew it would be over with soon enough and he would never feel physical pain again.

I looked towards the bedroom door as I pulled a pillowcase over one of the feather pillows, finding myself lost in his screams.

"It's okay, dear," Esme reminded me, patting my hand. "You know it is like this but Carlisle and Edward will take care of him."

Yes. I remembered what it was like. I remembered the three days of burning and screaming; wanting to escape it somehow. Thank goodness Carlisle, Esme and Edward looked over me and reassured me as I went through the full transition or I would have run, screaming into the streets, surely killing innocent civilians.

"Anyway, I saw him, camping nearby. He came out of his little pup tent, fashioned from a blanket over a rope he had run between two trees. He only had on a t-shirt and his pants. His shirt was hanging from another rope, as were his shoes – probably drying, as there were remnants of a fire nearby. He heard a noise, as did I, near a small cave close to his campsite. He went to investigate and before he could look in the cave a black bear charged him from behind.

"He fought the bear, as much as he could with no weapons. They wrestled each other on the ground and he threw several punches at the bears muzzle but it only made her angrier. I knew it was a female bear because I could see a cub peeking out from the cave. They must have been in hibernation and she felt threatened.

"She clawed him and tossed him around like a rag doll, slashing him with her claws. I didn't know what to do but I couldn't let her kill him. He reminded me of Vera's little boy, Henry, with his black curls. I knew it wasn't him, but still…"

"I understand," Esme sighed and I was sure she meant it. She often looked at young men who would be the age of her son, had she not tried to commit suicide, and smiled at them. I know she thought about her unborn son and the fact she would never have a child of her own. Every young man was her son to her and Emmett happened to be Henry to me.

"I charged the bear and tossed her backwards. She slammed against a tree and rose, shaking it off. She came at me again and I could hear Emmett moaning on the ground behind me. I looked intently into her eyes and hissed. She stopped, seeming to understand that I could and would destroy her. She retreated back the cave, nudging her cub in first and I turned to focus on Emmett.

He lay there, bleeding from everywhere, moaning in pain. One of his eyes was hanging from the socket and an ear was also barely attached. I reached for his shirt that was hanging from the rope and tore strips, tying one around his head to secure the ear and his eye. I tied another strip around his thigh, where blood was gushing from."

"You never had a desire to…drink his blood?" Esme asked.

"No," I smiled. "Not once. I only wanted to save him; to make him better. It was strange. The fact that he was bleeding seemed to be unimportant."

His screams grew worse and I turned for the door, only to have Esme reach out and grasp my arm. "It will be fine, dear," she reassured me. "There is nothing we can do. Let Carlisle and Edward tend to him. He will be fine."

"He had beautiful dark curls, just like Vera's little Henry," I sighed, pulling the quilt up over the pillows, tucking it under with the back of my hand. "It reminded me of my human life; of the life I would never have. It caused me to have pangs of longing, longing for my own happily ever after. It just seemed like bringing him to Carlisle was the right thing to do."

"I know that the day Carlisle changed you was a very difficult day for him," Esme sighed as she grabbed the furniture polish and rag and began dusting the dresser and vanity. "It was a very desperate moment. He could not just let you die. You had so much promise. He struggles all the time whether it was the right choice or not; taking those things away from you, like a family."

"I would have died, Esme," I said. "I never would have had a future or a family. Carlisle did not take that from me. I never would have had those things if he had just let me die. At least now, I have some semblance of a family."

"Thank you dear," she said, coming across the room to hug me. "I try so very hard to be like a real mother to you, although I know I could never replace your real mother. I just want you to know I am always here for you my dear."

"Your presence reminds me of that every day," I assured her. "You are a wonderful mother to me and to Edward. I am very lucky to have you."

_Day One_

Edward took Day One, sitting with Emmett as he moaned and screamed and writhed in pain as the venom worked its way through his blood system.

Esme went with Carlisle to obtain a false birth certificate for Emmett so his transition into our new life would be easier. Luckily, Emmett had enough clarity in his thoughts that Edward heard him say his last name…McCarty. We would have to leave Asheville soon anyway, when Emmett woke up. Even though we lived out in the country, far from other humans, Carlisle still worked at the hospital and Esme volunteered in the local community where Edward and I were attending a high school. People knew us and a new addition to our family would be suspicious.

"He is going to be a strong one, that Emmett McCarty," Edward said as he took a break, stepping into the parlor to listen to on the Victrola.

"What makes you think that?" I asked. Besides his obvious size there had to be a reason.

"He tried to get up several times, screaming about the burning in his throat and the thirst," Edward explained. "As strong as I am, it was everything in my power to keep him pinned to the bed."

"How did you get him calmed down?" I asked, laying my magazine across my lap.

"Carlisle brought home some donated blood from the hospital and we got him to drink it. It is not ideal but it works for now."

"Do you think he will adjust?" I asked. "To _our_ lifestyle?"

"I can't imagine why he wouldn't," Edward answered. "If it is all he knows, then it will make it much harder to seek out human blood."

"But won't he crave it and desire it? As I did?" I asked, curiously.

"Undoubtedly, but we will all be with him, to guide him and we know how crucial the first three years are. He won't be left alone for quite some time."

I picked up my magazine and commenced to reading it as Edward stood to make his way back to the bedroom Emmett was in.

"Edward?"

"Yes?" he asked, turning to look over his shoulder.

"Thank you," I said simply.

_For staying with Emmett, for saying no to me (no one ever did that before), and for knowing well enough we were not right for one another._

"You're welcome," he smiled as he turned the knob and entered the bedroom again.

_Day Two_

Emmett had screamed throughout the night and although none of us slept, I know it had to wear on Edward's nerves. At day break Carlisle and Esme took over and Edward and I went to the local high school to drop out.

"Yes, Mrs. Vincent," Edward said to the school counselor. "Rosalie and I will be un-enrolling from this high school."

"Why?" she asked in shock, surely upset that the school as losing its two best students in Edward and I.

"Carlisle got a job with a hospital in Washington State, so we are moving there. I apologize for it being such quick notice but the opportunity just arose."

"I understand, but we sure hate to lose you and Rosalie. You both are such good students," she sighed. "Of course we will need a signed note from for mother or father."

"Yes, ma'am," I smiled, handing her a note that Carlisle had written, explaining our quick departure.

"We have brought in all of our books," Edward explained, sitting down the stack on the counter in front of Mrs. Vincent. "As soon as we arrive to our new school we will send a request to you to have our transcripts forwarded."

"But of course, Edward," Mrs. Vincent said. "We will miss you both. I hope you and your whole family have a safe journey across the country and maybe, in the future, you can come back and visit us."

"Perhaps," Edward and I said, smiling, in unison.

As the day progressed, the screaming had subsided and Emmett was lucid enough to mumble things about his life. He would remember some of it, especially in the beginning, so hopefully he would tell us enough so that we could keep track of the details and he would always have answers.

Day Three

Day Three was my day.

Edward, Esme and Edward were packing up the house and arranging for everything to be shipped to a house in Hoquiam, Washington. Carlisle had never lived on the West Coast and he figured it was as good a time as any to move as far away as possible. We would drive to our new home, taking our time to visit tourist spots.

"It will be good training for Emmett," Carlisle said. "If he makes mistakes, which he is bound to do, it will not be in our new hometown; where we live and work and go to school. We will work with him as we make our journey."

"And it gives him time to get to know us," Esme reassured me. "Time to gain our trust. We will stay to the north where it is least populated and there are plenty of hunting grounds."

"Believe it or not, I'm sorry about all of this," I whispered to him. I was sitting at his bedside, in an uncomfortable chair we had pulled in from the kitchen. I sat, knitting a new sweater for the impending winter.

"My angel," he muttered, reaching out for my hand.

"Angel?" I asked, confused, taking his hand in mine. I could already feel it getting as hard as stone, the venom nearly complete.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked up at me. "You were my angel. I was dying and I looked up and there you were; my angel with flowing blonde curls and golden eyes."

"I am far from an angel," I assured him.

"You saved me," he replied.

"Did I? I saved you from death; from a hereafter. I sentenced you to an eternity of walking the night and hiding in the shadows."

"I'm a…vampire?" he asked, his voice shaky.

"Yes. We are all vampires."

"I didn't know they were real."

"Yes, we are real. But we are different than most vampires. We don't kill humans."

"How…?"He began his voice still weak.

"I am sure Carlisle, Edward and Esme have told you so much and you probably won't remember most of it. But we only hunt animals and live on animal blood. That is why our eyes are golden."

"I want blood. My throat is burning."

"I will see if Carlisle has more blood on hand," I said. "He is a doctor at the hospital."

He didn't want to let go of my hand. I pulled it away and he tugged back.

"Don't leave," he whispered.

"Aren't you thirsty?"

"I can wait," he replied. "Please tell me about you."

I sat back down in the chair and laid our hands on my lap.

"My name is Rosalie Hale. I am originally from Rochester, New York. Carlisle changed me two years ago…"

I trailed off, feeling my lip quiver. I couldn't cry but I certainly wanted to. I didn't know if I could tell him what had happened. I was still very ashamed about it. And I was sad; sad for the life I would never live; the life that could have been. I was still angry at Royce King for stealing that from me.

Emmett squeezed my hand. "It's okay," he reassured me. "I want to know your story."

"It's just hard," I choked out.

"Are there easy stories?" he asked earnestly.

I smiled. "I guess not," I said. "You are just the first person I have ever really told my story to."

"Then I am honored, Ms. Hale."

"Well, Carlisle was a doctor in Rochester. He, Esme and Edward were already vampires. I was engaged to be married to a local banker. I thought all of my dreams were coming true. Well, on my way home from my best friend Vera's house one night, a week before the wedding, I was brutally raped by several men. The leader of the group was my fiancé."

"Oh my…" was all he could say.

"Anyway," I continued. "My injuries were quite severe. Carlisle was walking home from work and picked up on the scent of my blood. When he came to investigate he found me in the middle of the street naked, bloody and clinging to life. He brought me back to their house and saved me from certain death, much as he did you,"

"How could anyone be monster enough to do something like to someone as beautiful as you my angel?" he asked, cringing from a hint of pain.

"That is very kind of you to say, Emmett," I smiled. "But I guess it was meant to be that way."

"If it hadn't have happened, you wouldn't have found me in the woods and saved me," he muttered.

"I didn't save you," I said. "Carlisle did."

"You delivered me to him so you are my angel," he said.

There was a short awkward pause before I changed the subject.

"So, tell me about you, Emmett McCarty."

His eyes opened wide. "How did you know my name?"

"Well, Edward reads minds and apparently you were thinking about your last name when you first arrived. It was quite helpful to know your full name."

"My memory is not as clear as it was before the accident," he started.

"That is to be expected. Mine is so clear because I hung on to it desperately until I made those responsible pay for what they did and because I missed the life I had. Forgetting, over time, makes it easier for us to not dwell on all we have lost."

"I lived in a cabin, just a few miles from where the attack happened," he began again. "I lived there with my mother and my two younger brothers, George and Phillip. Our father left a few years back to find work when he lost his job in the coal mine. He sent back money for a while but after a while we quit hearing from him. My mom does sewing jobs as she gets them and I chop wood for people for the winter," h paused and squeezed my hand. "I guess now that will be my brother's job."

I smiled down at him, then leaned forward and placed a kiss on his forehead. His skin was finally cool to the touch, like ours. "You never have to go without again. Carlisle is a good provider and he and Esme are the best parents anyone could ask for. They love us like we are their own."

"So, you and…Edward are…?"

"Ewwww-no!" I exclaimed, envisioning the relationship he imagined between us. "We are like brother and sister. Edward was the first one Carlisle created, then Esme, then me. He hoped Edward and I would be mates, like he and Esme were but we just didn't feel that way about each other."

Emmett chuckled. "Then I have a chance."

"There was something special about you when I saw you, Emmett McCarty. I would definitely say you have a chance."

On the fourth day, the screaming had completely disappeared and he had adapted to the burning in his throat.

"Let's go hunting," I suggested to him. "It will be a good experience for you and it will help you quench your thirst."

"Do you think it is safe?" he asked, warily, slipping on a pair of work boots Edward had found for him at a local thrift store.

"You have to learn some time and now is as good as any," I shrugged. "We can always take Edward with us if you like."

"Perhaps that would be a good idea, the first time," he said, buttoning up the lower buttons of a plaid shirt Edward had also laid out for him. He already had a clean t-shirt on so I couldn't see the skin of his bare chest but there was no hiding his bulging pectoral muscles under the shirt.

Edward, would you go hunting with us, to offer Emmett some peace of mind in case he slips?

Within seconds of my silent request, Edward knocked on the bedroom door.

"Come in," Emmett said.

"Do you mind if I go hunting with the two of you? Before we hit the road."

"I don't mind, if you don't mind," I said to Emmett.

"I don't mind at all," Emmett said. "The more the merrier."

Emmett jumped to his feet and pulled Edward tight against his chest in a hug.

"Thanks, Edward," Emmett said with a huge smile on his face.

"For what?" Edward asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked at me.

"For sitting with me and for helping Carlisle save me."

"Yeah, well, we will see if you are still grateful in ten years when time has marched on for everyone in the human world but you remain the same."

The three of us went hunting as the movers packed up the moving truck under Esme's direction. Carlisle put a few suitcases on the roof of the car and made sure everything was in proper running order before we left on our cross-country trip.

We stayed away from where the black bears might still be in their dens and, instead, focused on hunting the deer and elk that were plentiful.

Edward took his deer down gracefully, having years of practice doing so. My deer was quite an escape artist, avoiding my grasp not once, but two times before I finally took it down. Emmett watched each of us carefully and, as we fed, he climbed atop a boulder and came off, flying like an eagle moving in on its prey, crushing his deer beneath him. He fed furiously, tearing it apart and drinking every last ounce of blood.

"That was an excellent job," Edward commended him. "Now I can teach you how to hide the evidence of our kills."

Edward and I rolled the boulder Emmett had just been standing on, to the side. As he held it, Emmett and drug the three carcasses below the boulder, which Edward rolled back on top of them.

"Now, you did make a mess," I chuckled, touching his chest. "I think you might want to change your clothes before we leave."

I snuck him back into the house and up the back stairwell to a suitcase of clothes that Carlisle still had not packed on the car. He hurriedly changed as I took the soiled clothes and burned them out back in a fire pit.

XXX

Driving, our trip took us nearly two weeks but it was a glorious time. Emmett got to know each of us and in turn, he shared a bit of himself with us. He had one slip up in Illinois when we had parked off the road for a "picnic". As Carlisle and Edward were off hunting down their meal, a breeze blew by and with it came a strong scent of a human female.

Before I could react, Emmett was gone and by the time I had caught up with him he had already attacked her. It was a woman in her mid-thirties, out hanging laundry near a trail that led to where we were parked. Thank goodness no one else was at home, but it was a reminder to me, that Emmett was still very new to our life and learning to live off animals, as we did, would be quite a challenge.

_Edward, can you and Carlisle, come get Emmett and watch him so I can clean up? There has been an…accident._

Edward and Carlisle soon arrived to the back yard where I stood with Emmett, reassuring him.

"It's okay," I told him. "It happens to the best of us. You will learn to control your desires. Her scent was just very inviting to you."

"The last thing I wanted to do was to disappoint you, any of you," Emmett said, shoving his hands in his pockets, hanging his head in shame.

"You didn't disappoint me at all," I said, pulling him against me in a hug.

"Nor did you disappoint either one of us," Carlisle said, motioning to Edward.

"Head back to the car with Rosalie and change your shirt," Edward directed. "Carlisle and I will clean this up and we will be on our way."

XXXX

We stopped for two nights at a roadside motel in South Dakota. The car had been over heating that day and Carlisle took it into a mechanic to have it looked over. Just as I had suspected, it needed a new radiator so the mechanic had to order one that would get there the next day.

"How do you know so much about cars?" Emmett asked as he carried our bags into our room. Carlisle and Esme had their own and Edward had his own. It was the first time I had shared a room with anyone other than Edward and with us, we had always spent the time reading; he great works of literature, me, car repair manuals.

"It's just a little hobby of mine," I laughed.

"Really?" he asked me, unbelieving.

"Really. Carlisle is a doctor so he isn't the kind to get his hands dirty or risk injury to them (not as though we could actually be injured) and Edward is, well, Edward. He just isn't the kind to get his hands dirty."

"I think that is pretty neat that you are a girl and like to work on cars," he said, plopping down on one of the queen beds.

"Well, we don't sleep so we have a lot of free time on our hands," I admitted. "You pick up hobbies here and there and car repair seemed interesting to me, because it was something the boys do."

As I leaned over my suitcase, careful unfolding the garments onto the bed, Emmett came up behind him and slipped his arms around my waist, startling me.

"I'm sorry if I scared you," he apologized.

"No, it's okay," I said, moving my hands to hold his on my waist. "I am still just jittery. It hasn't been that long ago."

"I'm genuinely sorry," he said, pulling away but continuing to hold one of my hands in his, turning me to face him. "I honestly didn't give that a passing thought and that is just insensitive of me."

"You didn't mean anything by it," I said to him, squeezing his hand.

He stepped closer and placed his hand on the side of my face. "But I did. I just wanted to kiss you. I have wanted to kiss you since the first day. I just hadn't thought how that would affect you."

I took a step towards him and took his other hand in mine, raising my eyes to look him. "Please kiss me. I want to know what it is like to be kissed by a man who means me no harm."

"Oh, Rosalie, I promise you I mean you no harm, ever." He leaned his head down and tilted it to the side, moving slowly and with intent towards my lips. His met mine and he kissed me softly, several times, reaching up and placing one hand on the back of my neck. "You are the most beautiful woman I have ever set eyes on. I cannot imagine why you would allow me to kiss you."

"Because you are the sweetest man I have ever met and I trust you," I said in between kisses.

"I would love to make love to you, Rosalie Hale, but I don't think it is proper. You need more time. I need to spend more time gaining your trust. After all you have been through I don't want you to just give in to me. I want you to know I love and adore you and worship you. Please give me the time to do all of those things."

"I trust you now," I said breathlessly as he stepped back and sat on the bed, facing me, holding my hands in his, moving them to his cheeks, where he pressed them to his face with his own strong hands.

"We have eternity, Rosie," he smiled. "Let's take our time. I want to make the bad memories go away."


End file.
